The Concept

Strategic Culture Blog

The Beginning:

        It has taken a while to get to where I believe that I can start this process.  I mean I think I can actually begin to see the light at the end of the tunnel that marks the start of the research so to speak.  It really is wonderful when you find that the academics advising you and teaching you, though they may not quite understand what you're going on about, are justified in their faith in the learning process.  As you work your way through the layers of learning that seem irrelevant to where you THINK you want to go, you begin, often as a direct or indirect result, to get a clearer vision of the complex path that may actually get you there.  In any event, I believe I can see a few of the puzzle pieces actually beginning to fit together. 

        I will have to draw on many different ideas and disciplines such as psychology, anthropology, geography, history and political science, but that's much of the fascination of it all.  I think that I will draw on Maslow's Hierarchy of Needs, but try to apply them to the development of the nation/state.  It should work and I find it quite an insightful assessment of individual development so see no reason not to take it to the state level.  Once a state is physically and psychologically secure does it not begin to self identify and eventually (hopefully) to self-actualize?  Is the development of the collective really all that different than the individual?

        I also need to explore strategic geography as well as locale specific geography/topography to see how they contribute to or obstruct both local and inter regional transportation and communication or competition versus cooperation.  And how does a country portray itself both currently and historically in the maps and charts it produces?  (Self perception is a fascinating indicator of many things).  It's a question of identifying what shapes and defines the sense of physicality that evolves around any given state and the accumulated layers of associated core values that influence perception and response to threats and opportunities.  Sometimes these layers conflict and sometimes they reinforce (colonialism and post-colonialism?).  Why?  And what does that mean over time?

        The MA is supposed to come up with a definition of Strategic Culture and I now see this as quite achievable, especially if I put it in context with concepts such as political culture and strategic geography.  Tackling the impact of geography on the political culture of Afghanistan for a directed studies course this spring will also be a useful stepping stone not just to a definition of strategic culture, but to the beginnings of later research.  It will help me begin to understand those key elements that define any given strategic culture.  I hope, through this process,  to come up with a rudimentary framework for a Strategic Culture of the tribes in the Afghan region.  Concurrent activity, to borrow from the military, will be to apply those same elements first to my self, and through the combination try to develop a set of queries for a later extended study of the Strategic Culture of Canada.  I already have a few ideas about the results of that one!  But this learning path keeps surprising me, so I am content to leave myself open to whatever comes.

        In terms of  Canada, I have a wonderful idea that I hope to pursue with a couple of able colleagues.  I want to prepare a study, with carefully planned questions and a matrix of sorts for compiling the answers, and head back and forth across Canada, as a team, to simply talk to people.  We will go first by bus, then by train, then by car.  We will ask the questions, record the answers, take lots of pictures - even publish the questionnaire, perhaps in a magazine or through the CBC before we go.  Who knows?  Just gather grass roots feedback in an informal setting - to see if we can actually identify a Canadian Strategic Culture.  From there I will have a starting point to what I really want to do - which is to develop a reasonably reliable process for Comparative Strategic Culture Analysis.  If I can do this, I see it becoming a useful analytic and predictive tool for international relations, more effective conflict resolution, a well as enhanced and better understood peace building and peacemaking. I wonder if the Canadian Forces will give me a year off for directed advanced study?  Hmmm.

Survey Project Idea